#11713 by
Craig Maxim
Thu Aug 23, 2007 5:56 pm
This is pretty serious stuff. Better check the legal very thoroughly before signing up for this. You are obligated to a 2 year contractual arrangement with this organization. They receive royalties on your songs, as do the fan/investors for 2 years, which could prevent you from making any other deals on your music in the interim. The stuff is sold on iTunes, so, all the artist really gets out of this, if successful, is barely enough money to have your songs professionally recorded. Also, the company is based in the U.K., which could complicate issues if you are not from the U.K.
They claim that the big record labels have a 90% failure rate on their signed artists. This is probably true. And so therefore, you should sign with them instead. The difference, is that these guys provide you with around 30,000 dollars and have limited distribution, if any, other than the internet, whereas a "big" will invest more like $120,000 dollars in your project, and has major distribution and marketing behind it.
The "bigs" are becoming more and more irellevant these days, I certainly agree with that, but binding yourself to a 2 year contract on an inferior product and resource base, may not be the solution.
On the other hand, this may be an option for some. But I doubt it is a good one. For you to get sufficient "reviews" and "investments" on this site, which is how you become one of the 20 artists per 1000, that get financed, you would probably have to already have a semi-professional mixed and mastered demo, otherwise, you are not likely to have a realistic shot, since people usually need a fairly complete and professional demo to really grasp how good your songs are. If you have already invested in that, and it is good enough to convince these "fan/investors" it is probably already good enough to sell, to fans online or at gigs now, and help create a buzz, while you wait for a better opportunity.
This is a real contract, valid for 2 years, and there is no changing your mind or pursuing other options, until the contract has lapsed, without some kind of penalties or legal judgement against you. And if that occurs, I assume you would have to travel to the U.K. to resolve it, since the company is based there.
Better think long and hard about this one.
Good luck.
GO TO CD BABY . COM AND THEY WILL SELL WORLDWIDE FOR YOU AND SEND CHECK EACH MONTH. Got to have it ready to go though! MRG2U
